Stop paying insurance claims in instalments — Lydia Bawa
The Commissioner of Insurance, Ms Lydia Lariba Bawa, has asked insurance companies to stop paying claims in instalment, saying that the act could dent the image of the insurance industry.
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She explained that the prompt payment of genuine claims formed the core of the regulations that governed the operations of the insurance industry.
Ms Bawa made the call when she addressed participants at the fifth memorial lecture of the founder of KEK Insurance Group in Accra on Wednesday.
The ceremony, organised by the management of KEK Insurance Group, was on the theme “No Premium, No Cover (NPNC)”.
Ms Bawa said the National Insurance Commission (NIC) would enforce claim guidelines and would soon take actions against erring insurance companies.
NPNC policy
Last year, NIC began to implement the “No premium, no cover” policy, which mandated insurance firms to collect premiums upfront before providing insurance cover.
The move also implied that insurance companies would no longer be required to sell insurance products on credit to customers.
Touching on the policy, Ms Bawa said it was introduced to sanitise the insurance industry from all the irregularities, including the late payment of claims and other unprofessional behaviours by insurance firms.
She said although the implementation of the policy had brought huge cost to the NIC, its benefits had been tremendous.
“The insurance industry has now removed all the negative and unhealthy practices which used to be present when there was no NPNC,” Ms Bawa said.
She, therefore, warned that NIC would sanction insurance companies which failed to implement the “No premium No cover policy”.
KEK impact
In his welcoming address, the Managing Director of KEK Insurance Brookers, Mr Charles Oduro, said the lecture was instituted to celebrate the life of the company’s founder, Mr Kwesi Essel-Koomson (KEK).
KEK died on April 29, 2010 after a short illness.
Mr Oduro said although the founder had passed on, the company continued to make major impacts in the insurance industry, adding, “Currently, we are one of the biggest insurance companies in Ghana.”
He described the late KEK as a man of passion in raising the bar of insurance in the country.
